Ironing board



Dec; I4, I954 R. T. HQOD 2,696,685

IRONING BOARD Filed Oct. 29, 1952 INVENTOR l-PQBERT TURNER H000 WW2) M11 A ORNE United States Patent IRONlNG BOARD Robert Turner Hood, Mount Pleasant, Bilston, England Application October 29, 1952, Serial No. 317,424

Claims priority, application Great Britain November 7, 1951 3 Claims. (Cl. 38118) The present invention has relation to ironing boards of the kind wherein the board is of an elongated character and is supported upon forward and rearward interconnected legs adapted to be collapsed into adjaceny with the underside of the board when the device is not in use, for convenience in storage and transport.

The object of the present invention is primarily to provide a means whereby the effective height of the board can be readily adjusted to suit the users particular requirements and also admit of the ready collapse of the supporting structure when required while maintaining rigidity when in use.

According to the present invention there is provided an ironing board of the kind aforesaid which is charac terised by manually operable fixing means permitting the adjustable angular setting of the interconnected legs thereby varying the effective height of the board. Conveniently the upper extremity of the forward leg which is slung from the underside of the top by a forward linkage is adapted 0t slidingly and selectively co-operate With a releasable manually operable catch on the underside of the board whereby the angular setting of both the forward leg and interconnected rear legs may be varied to alter the effective height of the board.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into practice reference may be had to the appended explanatory drawings in which:

Figure 1 illustrates in perspective an ironing board constructed according to the present invention;

Figure 2 illustrates the manually operable catch; and Figure 3 is a vertical sectional elevation taken at line 33 of Figure 2 but showing a spring which can be substituted for the spring shown in Figure 2.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the whole device is carried out in metal and the board a of sheet metal with a depending flange a and forwardly protruding nose a of well known formation. At the rear underside part of the board twin legs b are pivotally mounted and at the front of the board a single leg c is slung by means of forward linkage c and forward and rearward legs 0 and b are interconnected by rods 0 0 so as to either support the board or be collapsed in adjacency therewith in known manner. In the present invention, however, there is pivotally mounted at d to the underside of the board a a catch in the form of an elongated box d with a finger manipulative tab d at its extremity, the said box being open on its underside for the sliding reception of the upper extremity of the forward leg c which has trunnions 0 see particularly Figure 3, which are engageable with slots d in the open underside of the said box. The forward extremity of the catch is extended at d beyond its pivots d and springs d are incorporated between the extension and the attachment plate d which locates the catch. Alternatively instead of utilising these springs d a spring d (Figure 3) may be incorporated at the extremity of the leg which bears on the top of the catch d and tends to thrust the trunnions 0 into the slots d In either instance in order to adjust the setting of the front leg the ice tab d on the extremity of the catch d is depressed by the finger compressing the springs d or spring d thereby forcing the trunnions out of engagement of their paritcular slots; the leg 0 can then be slid to a new position of adjustment and automatically reset in a new slot. In this manner it will be appreciated that the angle of the leg c and consequently the angle of the interconnected rear leg structure b is altered and the height of the board varied in accordance with the characteristic of the present invention.

When the device is collapsed the front leg lies within the box-like catch along its length, the trunnions having been completely detached therefrom and brought beneath a'-.

I claim:

1. An ironing board having a leg hinged thereto and adjacent one end thereof, a link hinged to said board adjacent its other end, another leg hinged intermediate its ends to said link, a rod hinged to such other leg below the point where said link is hinged to such other leg, said rod being hinged to said board, a second rod hinged to the first mentioned leg intermediate its ends and to such other leg adjacent its upper end and means for latching the upper end of such other leg at various positions spaced longitudinally of said board whereby the legs can be made to support said board at various levels.

2. An ironing board having a leg hinged thereto and adjacent one end thereof, a link hinged to said board adjacent its other end, another leg hinged intermediate its ends to said link, a rod hinged to such other leg below the point where said link is hinged to such other leg, said rod being hinged to said board, a second rod hinged to the first mentioned leg intermediate its ends and to such other leg adjacent its upper end and means for latching the upper end of such other leg at various positions spaced longitudinally of said board whereby the legs can be made to support said board at various levels, said means comprising a catch pivoted to the underside of said board and having a series of notches, a member on the upper end of such other leg engageable selectively in any one of said notches and a spring for yieldably holding said member engaged in one of said notches.

3. An ironing board having a leg hinged thereto and adjacent one end thereof, a link hinged to said board adjacent its other end, another leg hinged intermediate its ends to said link, a rod hinged to such other leg below the point where said link is hinged to such other leg, said rod being hinged to said board, a second rod hinged to the first mentioned leg intermediate its ends and to such other leg adjacent its upper end and means for latching the upper end of such other leg at various positions spaced longitudinally of said board whereby the legs can be made to support said board at various levels, a catch pivoted to the underside of said board which catch has a downwardly opening channel to slidingly receive the upper extremity of such other leg and a series of notches, a member fixed to the upper extremity of such other leg and selectively engageable in any one of said notches and a spring for yieldably holding said member in engagement with one of said notches.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 234,791 Lindsay Nov. 23, 1880 316,363 Hough Apr. 21, 1885 346,145 Bunce July 27, 1886 1,161,407 Northrup Nov. 23, 1915 2,311,612 Pleiss Feb. 16, 1943 2,517,696 Miller Aug. 8, 1250 

